As a kid, I whipped up my share of mud pies and looked forward to summer camp and games of Kick the Can with my cousins on our grandparents’ farm. But most days I could be found inside, nose in a book.more

It’s not uncommon to find church, or at least sanctuary, in the mountains. On a Sunday morning hike early last spring, I also came face to face—or foot to slippery rock, in this case—with a trail of metaphors for new parenthood.more

’Tis the season for good cooking. Whether your holiday food traditions have been set in place for generations or every year starts as a blank menu, there’s always room at the table for one more special dish.more

For the past several months, my household’s morning routine has been playing on repeat. I feed my baby. My husband brews a pot of coffee. I’ve even taken to drinking out of the same mug, day in and out.more

One picture-perfect October afternoon, I met a group of strangers at a farm pasture in the Hickory Nut Gorge near Fairview, North Carolina. We piled into a couple of all-terrain SUVs, forded a rocky stream, and parked at a trailhead on private land.more

Early summer, a couple of years ago, I arrived in these mountains. Typically the season of fresh starts, spring was to close out my first year here. I ended up traveling much of March, and, upon my return to Asheville, the fullness of April washed ovmore

Long before the advent of icicle string lights and inflatable snowmen, holiday decorations brightened even the humblest of log cabins. Celebrate the season—and connect with our region’s roots—at these historic residences around Southern Appalachia.more

My parents live in the same blue house in Iowa where they’ve lived nearly all of their 43 years of marriage. Though more than a decade has passed since I moved out, I know that house like the back of my hand.more

As a new bride on my grandfather’s family farm, my grandmother taught herself how to make pie crust in secret, feeding her failed attempts to the hogs. As my mom tells it, eventually she emerged victorious with a husband-worthy crust.more

A spirit of craftsmanship has always imbued these mountains. These days, Southern Appalachia’s most innovative artisans and entrepreneurs honor the past and this region while pushing their crafts to new limits.more

I’ve never been much of a maker, though that’s not for lack of trying. An artistic streak got me through graphic design courses in college and these days keeps my home stocked with odds and ends from the hobby shop.more

When I was 11, a family road trip brought me to North Carolina’s Sapphire Valley. One afternoon, while panning for gems at one of the area’s tourist mines, I spotted a crystalline rock about the size of a thumbnail.more

I never expected to buy a banjo, and certainly not for myself. And yet I recently found myself ogling an Irish tenor on the showroom wall of Acoustic Corner in Black Mountain, North Carolina. This was not my first visit.more

Let’s get something out in the open: I’m not from around here. My love for the Southern Appalachians runs deep, but I can’t regale you with tales of my Smokies ancestors or show you faded photos of my family’s cabin in the woods.more

A lute player, an Inuit throat singer, and a punk rocker walk into a bar in Knoxville, Tennessee … That’s not a joke. Actually, it’s the setup for Big Ears, a music and arts festival that is making global waves.more